Skip to main content

BaseLaunch supports Switzerland as an innovation location

| News

BaseLaunch supports Switzerland as an innovation location

27.08.2019

Switzerland often receives awards for its innovative strength. Life sciences have generally played a huge part in this acclaim. The BaseLaunch accelerator operated by BaselArea.swiss is a major reason for innovation, a media report has found.

BaseLaunch

In its latest issue, the digital magazine “Pharma – Technology Focus” has dedicated an article to innovation in Switzerland. It explores the journey from startup to listed company and presents some of the success stories in the life sciences sector. The BaseLaunch accelerator operated by the innovation and economic promotion agency BaselArea.swiss is playing a key role in this development.

Almost two thirds of those in employed in the Swiss pharmaceutical sector work in the greater Basel area: 700 companies, more than 30,000 employees and R&D investment of 21 billion Swiss francs – these impressive figures are cited in the article. Industry activity is just one element of life sciences in Basel. The second is academic research, as director of BaseLaunch Stephan Emmerth explains, adding that more than 1,000 research groups and 13 research institutes are based in the region. Basel is therefore the perfect place for startups – and that’s where BaseLaunch comes into play.

The accelerator was founded in 2017 and is supported by the pharma giants Roche and Novartis. BaseLaunch helps startups launch and further develop their business models. This makes them attractive for venture capital funds and major pharma corporations, which invest as a result. “To do so, we offer grants of up to 250,000 francs and access to our partners,” said Stephan Emmerth. BaseLaunch has supported ten startups in this way to date, embedding them in the Basel area’s life sciences ecosystem.

In future, these companies could quite likely appear on the SIX Swiss Exchange. According to the magazine, SIX is the most important biotech exchange in Europe. The first major company from Basel to list on the exchange was Lonza in 1999 and Actelion a year later. After Johnson & Johnson took over Actelion, the spin-off Idorsia also decided to go public. They are considered pioneers, and the next company that follows in their footsteps could quite possibly have been helped on its way by BaseLaunch.

Share this article

Sign up to receive our newsletter in your inbox.

You might also be interested in

Nouscom secures 67.5 million euros in financing

Biotech company Nouscom has raised 67.5 million euros in a series C financing round. The Basel-based firm intends to use...
Read More

Celebrating six months of innovation: i4Challenge accelerator New Ideas 2022/2023

On the 5th of July 2023, the 3rd iteration of the i4Challenge accelerator program New Ideas came to its conclusion....
Read More

How open innovation in healthtech hubs is fueling the rise of digital healthcare

How the ever-increasing uptake of digital solutions is enhancing patient engagement, increasing access to care and lowering the cost of...
Read More

Paradigm shift in pain management

Pain is a crucial sensation for survival, but it can also drive us to depression and long-term suffering if not...
Read More

BOOM Summit in Basel accelerates health technology

The BOOM Summit at Messe Basel in April 2024 will be a completely new kind of healthcare conference. The first...
Read More

Investors stump up 3.7 million Swiss francs in Onena Medicines

Onena Medicines has secured an investment of 3.7 million Swiss francs. The portfolio company of the biotech startup incubator BaseLaunch...
Read More

Do you have a question? We'd like to hear from you.